Some thoughts and questions today on complacency. What is it and are we complacent? I always understood complacency to mean that someone was satisfied with what they had and was not interested in making any changes. The dictionary gives various definitions of complacency but here is one of them. Complacency is ‘ a feeling of smug or unethical satisfaction with oneself or ones achievements’.
I often hear people say ‘I’m alright Jack, so what!’ Is this being complacent? I also know those who sit back and let the world go to pieces around them because they think it does not concern them. Is this also complacency? Are we ever in a position where we can sit back and say we are satisfied with what we have and what we are doing? I am satisfied with what I have but that does not stop me from trying to make the world around me a better place for others to live in.
I look at the problems in the world today, the air pollution, the sea pollution, the land pollution, the way we have desecrated the land and ill-used it and much more. Has this happened because we have been complacent and could not see the threat to our planet and our lives and the lives of our children and grandchildren? Did we just want more and more material goods without understanding the cost of these to the environment? Have we got used to cheap items which need replacing quite soon instead of the sturdy well made items that lasted for years and could be repaired? Have we become a throw-away society? And is this all because we have become complacent about how things are made and want more of them because they are cheap?
I could go on and on here but I think I have made my point. Being happy with what you have and not seeing the broader picture is not necessarily a good thing. I am happy with my current living situation and don’t need more gadgets or furniture or clothes but I am not just sitting here being smug about it, I am looking for ways to make manufacturing and the environment a better place to be. I am aware that time is running out for human life on our planet. What are you doing?
Walking the Druid Path 